A 4-year-old child who ran away from a foster home in Dane county was found in a car littered with drugs in Cook County, Illinois.
When the Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart called Dane County officials, they refused to pick the child up. So did her foster mother.
With no where else to turn, the Illinois sheriff contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Families Services to take custody of the child. The sheriff wrote a letter to Gov. Walker about his disgust in how Dane County officials treated the girl.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained a copy of the letter
According to a copy of the letter obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cook County Sheriff officers late last week stopped a vehicle in a high crime area on Chicago’s west side.
The car contained 420 grams of heroin, four grams of marijuana and a 17-year-old girl officers later determined to have run away from a Dane County foster home.
Officers contacted the girl’s foster mother, who refused to pick her up. She referred the officers to the Juvenile Reception Center in Madison, which refused to pick her up. It referred the officers to the Dane County Department of Human Services, which also refused to pick her up.
“As a result of the Wisconsin agencies refusing to take custody of this vulnerable young girl,” Dart wrote, “we secured the assistance of the Illinois Department of Children and Families Services.”
The letter also noted that the girl did not appear to have been reported missing until after the sheriff’s office contacted Wisconsin officials.
“Child welfare systems have an obligation to protect its wards, not boldly refuse to care for them,” Dart wrote.
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